The Winter 2011 issue of Able Muse includes winners and finalists for its 2011 Write Prize contest:

Write Prize for Fiction – Final Judge: Alan Cheuse
Winner: Douglas Campbell – “Sunflowers, Rivers”

Write Prize for Poetry – Final Judge: Rachel Hadas
Winner: Jean L. Kreiling – “Waiting for a Helicopter”
Second: Susan McLean – “Teaching to the Test”
Finalists: John Beaton – “Your Voice”; Catherine Chandler – “This Dusky Arc”; T.S. Kerrigan – “Missing the Sunset at Sounion”; Joshua Lavender – “The Guest”; Gabriel Spera – “Bread and Fish”; Richard Wakefield – “Crossing”

An additional list of poetry honorable mentions can be found on the publication website.

Winners and runners-up of the 2011 Iowa Review Awards Contest are featured in the Winter 2011 publication:

Nonfiction Winner: Helen Phillips, “Life Care Center”
Poetry Winner: Emily Van Kley, 10 poems
Fiction Winner: John Van Kirk, “Landscape with Boys”

Runners-up
Maria Rapoport (nonfiction); Kimberly Burwick (poetry); Suzanne Scanlon (fiction)

Judged by writer Gerald Duff the winner of the 2011 Clapboard House Short Story Contest is “The Bet” by Steven D. Stark. His story, along with those of the nine runner-ups, are available in the newest online issue of Clapboard House. Stark’s winning story will also be included in the planned print edition of THE BEST OF CLAPBOARD HOUSE.

The Summer/Fall 2011 issue of Spoon River Poetry Review features the 2011 Editors’ Prize Winners selected by final judge Cecil S. Giscombe:

First Place ($1,000): Jennie Ray
First Runner Up ($100): Craig Blais
Second Runner Up ($100): Ben Purkert

Honorable Mentions: Miles Waggener, Molly Tustison, Neal Shipley, Suzume, Laura Sherwood Rudish.

One winning poem will be awarded $1000 and two runners-up awarded $100 each in this annual contest. Winning poem, runners-up, and honorable mentions are published in the fall issue.

Winners of the 2011 River Styx International Poetry Contest are included in the newest issue of River Styx.

1st Place: Stephen Kampa, “Small Change”
2nd Place: Tara Taylor, “Sea Glass”
3rd Place: Julie Hall, “Octopus”

This annual contest awards $1500 First Prize plus one case of micro-brewed Schlafly Beer as well as publication of top selections. A complete list of winners and honorable mentions are available on the publication’s website.

The Winter 2012 issue of The Kenyon Review includes the winners of the 2011 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest, previously for writers under the age of thirty. Final judge for the contest was Ron Carlson.

First Prize: Fan Li “Chiasmus”
Runner up: Anna Kovatcheva “September”
Runner up: Nichols Malick “The Boy in the Lake”

In a change from previous years of the contest, submissions will no longer be limited to writers under thirty. Starting in 2012, entries for the Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest will be limited to writers who have not yet published a book of fiction.

Chosen from its regular pool of submissions, Memoir (and) has selected the following winners for their biannual prize in prose or poetry:

Grand Prize
Colette Inez for “Mother Country” (prose)

Second Prize
Arthur Bull for “End of the Rope march, February 1996” (poetry)

Third Prize
Jean LeBlanc for “Some Flemish Painters Walk Around My Grandmother’s Yard” (poetry)

In addition to publication, each winner receives a cash prize. Memoir (and) also considers outstanding submissions for Graphic Memoir and Photography.

The Winter 2011/12 issue of Ploughshares, guest edited by Alice Hoffman, includes the winner of the 2011 Emerging Writer’s Contest: “The Gospel of Blackbird,” fiction by Thomas Lee, selected by DeWitt Henry. The 2012 Emerging Writer’s Contest will be expanding to include fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Black Warrior Review has teamed up with Summer Literary Seminars for their annual contest. Judges Jayne Anne Phillips and Matthew Zapruder selected winners for the 2011 contest: Blair Bourassa, for his story “Love is Such an Old Fashioned Word,” and Lillian Bertram, for her poem “I Believe the Far Fields.”

Each received tuition, airfare, and accommodations to the 2011 SLS program of their choosing (Montreal, Lithuania, or Kenya), plus publication in the most recent issue of Black Warrior Review (Fall/Winter 2011) and online in The Walrus.

[BWR Fall/Winter 2011 cover art “Liquid Ground I” by Helen Pynor.]

The Winter/Spring 2012 issue of Gulf Coast includes the 2011 Gulf Coast Prize winners.

Poetry
Winner: “A New Vessel” by Amaranth Borsuk
Poetry judge: Ilya Kaminsky

Fiction
Winner: “The Window” by Brian Van Reet
Fiction judge: Frederick Reiken

Nonfiction
Winner: “The Suturing of Wounds or Words” by Arianne Zwartjes
Nonfiction judge: John D’Agata

A full list of winners and runners up is available on the Gulf Coast website.

Issue 49.1 of Southern Poetry Review includes “Red Rover” by Catherine Staples, the winner of the 2011 Guy Owen Award for Poetry as selected by Carl Dennis.

The Fall 2011 (#10) issue of New Ohio Review includes their 2011 Contest Winners. The poetry winners, selected by Nancy Eimers, are Julie Hanson (“A Mile In”), awarded first prize of $1,500; and Angie Mazakis (“Pretending to be Asleep” and “Owen and Paul”), awarded second prize of $500. The fiction winners, selected by Don De Grazia, are Daniel Larkins (“The Rush of Losing”), awarded first prize of $1,500; and Emily Nagin (“The Truest Thing”) awarded second prize of $500.

Judges Amy Bloom and Linda Pastan selected the winner and honorable mentions of the 2011 Nimrod International Journal‘s 33rd Annual Literary Awards. Each are published in the Fall/Winter issue.

The Pablo Neruda Prize in Poetry
FIRST: Hayden Saunier, “Sideways Glances in the Rear-View Mirror”
SECOND: Suzanne Cleary, “Italian Made Simple” and other poems

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Patricia Hawley, “Transmutation” and other poems
Brent Pallas, “My Dear Emma” and other poems
Robert Russell, “Heaven” and other poems

The Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction
FIRST: Sultana Banulescu, “Beggars and Thieves”
SECOND: Kellie Wells, “In the Hatred of a Minute”

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Judith Hutchinson Clark, “Girlfriend”
Caitlin Kindervatter-Clark, “The Pygmy Queen”
Stephen Taylor, “Jolly Old England”

A full list of winners and finalists in available here.

Our congratulations to Shannon Cain for being awarded the University of Pittsburgh Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her manuscript The Necessity of Certain Behaviors was selected by senior judge Alice Mattison and is now available for purchase from the press.

The Drue Heinz Literature Prize recognizes and supports writers of short fiction and makes their work available to readers around the world. The award is open to writers who have published a book-length collection of fiction or at least three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals.

The newest issue of The Bitter Oleander (v17 n2) includes The Frances Locke Memorial Poetry Award Winner for 2011: Gardenia’s Scent by Sunghui Chang.

Also featured in this issue with an in depth interview and a large selection of her poetry is the French poet Fiona Sze-Lorrain, as well as translations from the Chinese of poets Yi Lu and Bai Hua likewise translated by Sze-Lorrain. The Bitter Oleander includes both original language texts as well as translations in English.

The 2011 New South Contest winners appear in the newest issue:

Poetry, judged by Rodney Jones
First Place: “Benthos” by Bruce Bond
Second Place: “Archery With Alex” by Maya Jewell Zeller

Prose, judged by Karen E. Bender
First Place: “Who’s Akela?” by Gregory J. Wolos
Second Place: “Palimpsests” by Jill Kronstadt

New South is Georgia State University’s Journal of Art and Literature.

Issue 42 of Creative Nonfiction features a number of winning essays. Cosponsored by the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies for best essay related to the them of “The Night,” Bud Shaw’s essay “My Night with Ellen Hutchinson” was selected by Susan Orlean from among 350 entries. Also included in this issue is Minh Phuong Nguyen’s “Suffering Self,” the 2010 Norman Mailer College Nonfiction Writing Award winner, and S.J. Dunning’s “for(e)closure,” the winner of the Creative Nonfiction’s MFA Program-Off.

The newest issue of Silk Road (6.2) features the winning stories for their Flash Fiction Contest with comments on each from Senior Fiction Editor Greg Belliveau. Steve Edwards received first place for “A Writer’s Story” and Katie Corese received honorable mention for “Let Your Hair Down.”

The Summer 2011 issue of American Short Fiction features the winners of the magazine’s fall short story contest, judged by Wells Tower:

First Prize: Jamie Quatro’s “Decomposition: A Primer for Promiscuous Housewives”

Second Prize: L. Annette Binder’s “Sea of Tranquility”

The newest issue of Bayou Magazine (#55, 2011) includes the story “Roger and Jodeen,” Kevin Breen’s winning entry in the 2010 James Knudsen Editor’s Prize in Fiction. A full list of finalists is available on the Bayou Magazine website.

The newest edition of Bacopa: A Literary Review from the Writers Alliance of GAinesville, includes the winners of the 2011 Bacopa Genre Awards:

Fiction
1st JoeAnn Hart, “Open House”
2nd Mandy Manning, “Growth”
Honorable Mention Q. Lindsey Barrett “Toro-nado”

Nonfiction
1st Amanda Skelton, “Warding off the Monkey”
2nd Carolyne Wright, “Los Olvidados: The Forgotten Ones”
Honorable Mention Ed McCourt, “Watching Rocco”

Poetry
1st Colleen Runyan, “me or the tea”
2nd Erika Brumett, “Fight Overheard in Sign Language”
Honorable Mention Carolyne Wright, “Acrostic: Evcharistoic Eulene”

The Summer/Fall 2011 issue of Sycamore Review features the winner of their annual Wabash Prize for Fiction: Joe B. Sills, “the Duck.”

There are also a number of staff changes taking place: Editor-in-Chief Anthony Cook is stepping down (congratulations on the new baby!); the new editor will be Jessica Jacobs. Poetry editors Mario Chard and Josh Wild and nonfiction editor Chidelia Edochie will also be moving on, with replacements yet to be announced.

The Summer 2011 issue of Puerto del Sol features works by the winners of their Poetry and Fiction Contests:

2011 Fiction Contest (Dawn Raffel, judge)

1st Place: Joe Aguilar, “The Flood”
2nd Place: Jen Bergmark, “Boyle Heights”
3rd Place: Kellie Wells, “The Incinerating Place”

2011 Poetry Contest (Julie Carr, judge)

1st Place: Amy Woolard, “The Housewarming”
2nd Place: Amy Woolard, “The Petty Arsonists”
3rd Place: Denise Leto, “Jaw Simulacra”

E.J. Levy, of Washington, DC, and Hugh Sheehy, of Brooklyn, NY, have been named the winners of this year’s Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award. Levy’s collection MY LIFE IN THEORY and Sheehy’s collection THE INVISIBLES will be published by the University of Georgia Press and will be available in Fall 2012.

The competition, now in its twenty-eighth year, seeks to encourage the writers of excellent short stories and bring their work to a wider audience by offering publication of a book-length collection and a $1,000 prize. The Flannery O’Connor Award has helped launch the literary careers of such previous winners as Ha Jin and Antonya Nelson.

“The Constant Gardener” by Maggie Schwed and “The Sun Estate” by Julie Joosten were selected as the Malahat Long Poem Prize 2011 Winners. Each receives a $1000 cash prize as well as publication. Their poems appear in the most recent issue of Malahat (Summer 2011), and an interview with each appears on the Malahat Review web site.

The Malahat Long Poem Prize is held every second year. The deadline for the next contest is February 1, 2013. Malahat Review sponsors a number of contests, guidelines for which can be viewed here.

Elegies for New York Avenue by Melanie Henderson of Washington, DC. won the Main Street Rag 2011 Poetry Book Award.

The deadline for the next Poetry Book Award is January 31, 2012. All entries are considered for publication.

Finalists/Runners up (in alphabetical order) are:

Banjo String Theory by Lynn Pattison, Kalamazoo, MI
Devil’s Messengers by David Allen Sullivan, Santa Cruz, CA
Dopplegangster by Patrick Moran, Fort Atkinson, WI
Heinz 56 by Amanda Reynolds, Pittsburgh, PA
Silver by Jason McCall, Tuscaloosa, AL
System of Hideouts by Heather McNaughter, Pittsburgh, PA
Zero is the Whole I Fall into at Night by Becky Thompson, Jamaica Plain, MA

Because the primary purpose for the MSR contest is to select manuscripts for publication, all of the finalists have been offered publication.

MSR also welcomes back Foster C. Hunter, who will be helping “Build Better Books” in the print and bindery operation.

Black Lawrence Press has announced that B.C. Edwards has won The Hudson Prize with his short story collection The Aversive Clause. Edwards also submitted his poetry collection From the Cyclopedia of Recipes for the prize and Black Lawrence has also optioned to publish that manuscript as well.

Finalist Valerie Bandura was also offered a contract for her entry Freak Show.

Poetry Finalists
Emily Rosko – Prop Rockery
Lindsay Illich – Anatomy Lessons
Rae Gouirand – Open Winter
Tony Trigilio – White Noise

Fiction Finalists
Elizabeth Kadetsky – The Poison That Purifies You
Emily Doak – Hatchlings
George McCormick – Salton Sea
Jennifer Cranfill – The Last of the Small Town Girls
Jessica Barksdale – Tuna for the Apocalypse
Randal Gentry – Evenings with Johnny Carson
Ron Tanner – Boom, Like That

Glimmer Train has just chosen the winning stories for their Short Story Award for New Writers. This competition is held quarterly and is open to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation greater than 5000. The next Short Story Award competition will take place in August. Glimmer Train’s monthly submission calendar may be viewed here.

First place: James Smart [Pictured], of Hull, England, wins $1200 for “Building Butterflies.” His story will be published in the Fall 2012 issue of Glimmer Train Stories.

Second place: Andrew Bales, also of Wichita, KS, wins $500 for “The Empire Builder.”

Third place: Craig Barnes, of Portsmouth, NH, wins $300 for “The Sky and the Sun Coming Over the Earth.”

A PDF of the Top 25 winners can be found here.

Deadline soon approaching for Very Short Fiction Award: July 31

Glimmer Train hosts this competition twice a year, and first place is $1200 plus publication in the journal. It’s open to all writers, no theme restrictions, and the word count must not exceed 3000. Click here for complete guidelines.

Winners of the 9th Annual BrainStorm Poetry Contest are featured in the newest issue of Open Minds Quarterly: The Poetry and Literature of Mental Health Recovery.

First Place: Brock Marie Moore
Second Place: Louise Lane
Third Place: Zan Bokes

Honorable Mentions will appear in the Fall 2011 issue: April Bulmer, John Laue, L.Z. Trembley, and Louise Lane.

Regularly packed with amazing images, the Summer-Fall 2011 issue of Camera Obscura features photographs by the winners of the Summer 2011 Photography Competition, judged by Carl Caylor, Carol Andrews Jensen, and Joel Grimes.

Rafal Maleszyk – Outstanding Photo Award, Professional
Bonnie Jones – Editor’s Choice Award, Professional
Kalliope Amorphous – Outstanding Photo Award, Non-Professional
Hugh Jones – Editor’s Choice Award, Non-Professional

Finalists – Professional
Alan Brown, Bonnie Jones , Catherine Martinoff, Chan Kwok Hung, Claudio Allia, Daniel Haeker, Jana Asenbrennerova, Jeremy Fokkens, Juergen Lechner, Marcella Hackbardt, Matt Walford, Nicholas Bardonnay, Patrizia Burra, Peter Ciccariello, Sabato Visconti, Svetlana Batura

Finalists – Non-professional
Daniel Haeker, Daniel L Camacho-Sanchez, Estelle Joannou, Habeeb Ali, Haeker Daniel, Hugh Jones, Jacqueline Langelier, Jenn Verrier, Jörgen Rönn, Louis Staeble, Nitin Budhiraja, Sabato Visconti, Scarlett Rooney, Tom Maciejewski